Rating: 
Summary: Good but could be better
Review: I love the extigy it was easy to set up/install and works great and sounds great with my computer. I just wish they would hurry up and come out with a USB 2.0 version to utilize the higher bandwith. If you can get by using the internal version Audigy then I would recomend that other wise the extigy rocks.
Rating: 
Summary: The remote control works with winamp and any application
Review: I ordered it from [amazon.com] in spite of many complaint about installation. There just seems to be no better product for laptops. The set up takes some time. Just be patient and follow the steps in the quick start guide and you should be ok. I have an HP zt1180 with windows XP home edition and I can feel some load but nothing major. I use the Extigy with Sound Blaster 4.1 speakers and the sound is much better than using the sound card from the laptop. The remote control does work with winamp. If the winamp is already running, press start button twice and you will see a list of programs that are currently running. Choose winamp and you can control the player. Choose winamp playlist and you can scroll through the list of songs. You need to add winamp.exe in the list of windows application from creative remote control manager and it will let you launch winamp with remote control. Always remove the Extigy using "Safely remove hardware" which is located in the task bar. In this way, you don't need to restart the PC to reconnect the Extigy again. But I have to restart the Creative remote center. I have not tried the Creative play center yet. So far winamp works fine with both the Extigy and the remote control. I am surprised not to find any instruction manual except for a sheet of quick start guide. But I am pretty comfortable with installation and using the Extigy. I think if I have a better laptop, it should work better. I will write more if I find anything interesting. [amazon.com] is offering free shipping right now and it is the best place to buy the extigy. I got it in one week.
Rating:
Summary: Simplicity , Versatility , Affordability !!!
Review: I originally bought this extigy for my desktop cause it's a sony and I can't upgrade it internally. Here are my thoughts:
Pros: Simple and Easy installation
Theatre quality sound effect
Reduce noise normally overlooked by its competitions
Multiple connectivity (also work with PS2 and DVD players)
Great Virtual Surround Sound even with 4.1 system
Remote control
Affordable Price
One plug connection when using 510d or 550thx (Cambridge
Soudwork) speaker systems
Cons: USB 1.0 is a bit slow and may slow down computer system
from time to time. (Hopefully creative comes out with a
USB 2.0 or Firewire version of Extigy soon.)
Overall, I am very pleased with this product mainly for it's simple installation process as well as the quality sound it makes. I have both Altec 641 as well as Cambridge 510d speaker systems. On the 510d...man...they are a perfect match, producing flawless sounds. Don't get me wrong, cause even with the Altec 641 (4.1 system) you can hear every single rain drops when watching a DVD, just as if you were under the rain. Don't take my word for it. You have to experience it to believe it!
I hope you get to enjoy this as much as I do. And hope my review is helpful to you as well!!! Have a nice day !^_^!
Rating:
Summary: One powerfull sound card
Review: I own a laptop on which are two crappy speakers. Audio data is provided to those speakers through a crappy sound card. I am an audiophile, and I must have the ultimate experience with sound. I bought the Extigy because it is a powerful soundcard that connects through the USB, which the only possible way to get a new sound card for my laptop. Plus, I do a lot of music editing and recording, and I needed a line in. I bought the Creative Labs Inspire 5300 5.1 speakers along with my sound card, because a great soundcard matched with lousy speakers is a waste of money. The audio quality I got from the Extigy is superb. The 24bit audio sure makes a difference, and the surround sound works very nicely. The included software I have mixed feelings about. The drivers installed without any problems. However the sound editing, jukebox, and all other programs are on not the best. I rarely use any of their provided software. One of the best features is the remote center. I placed all my music into the remote center player, and I can access all my songs from the remote control, by selecting album, artist, or genre. I have quite a bit of difficulty getting the Dolby Digital decoder to work. It works fine on the sample file. However, it will not play my DVD's in Dolby digital mode, just in stereo mode. An absolutely awesome sounding soundcard matched with good speakers, but use your own sound editing software. Lots of physical features, and everything can be controlled from the remote.
Rating:
Summary: Great hardware, So So Software and so so service
Review: I was all the time hesitating to replace my laptop with a powerful desktop. And this card changed my plan totally. Now I don't envy any multimedia PC anymore. Hooked up with Logitech Z680 5.1 speakers, it produces sound like a dream. My notebook has only 1 USB1.1 port. Before purchasing this card, several of my usb devices shared one USB hub. When I got this card and assigned it one port of the hub, unfortunately, the sound was full of scratches. I had to go to Bestbuy and get one USB PCMCIA card. After I connected it to the PCMCIA card, the sound that I was expecting finally came out. So be sure to give it a separate port, otherwise, it is not guaranteed to work fine. Another suggestion, be careful to select the applications from its bundled CD to install. Some of them are crap. The manual and help file are talking about some operations you can never find on your PC. I went to their website to see if I can get any help there, and answer was negative. Fortunately, I got my problem solved before having to call the company. But On the whole, it is a good buy.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth it.
Review: I'm running my Extigy on a Dell Inspiron, PIII-900, with 512 megs of RAM, and Windows 2000 Pro. I had a bit of trouble installing it, but downloaded the lastest drivers and it worked splendidly. People complain about low bandwidth and high CPU usage, but I have not had those problems. Even playing Unreal Tournament, I had no loss of sound or game quality. Creative PlayCenter, with the Extigy uses less of the CPU than Windows Media Player, with my integrated sound. I couldn't get it to work on my USB 2.0 Cardbus card, but it works just fine on my integrated USB 1.1. All in all, this is a great product. I feel that I've finally found a card good enough for my Klipsch Promedias.
Rating: 
Summary: Creative doesn't approve rebates
Review: I've called creative customer service to make sure that I submit everything I need to get my rebate, but they still deny my rebate, despite I have done what I was told to submit by the representative of Creative. Creative do not listen to my explaination, even if I would like to try to resubmit the materials they think I did not submit. Other companies would certainly give opportunity for consumers to resubmit their information in order to get their rebates. Creative doesn't seem to have business ethic in this.
Rating: 
Summary: Extigy Pros and Cons
Review: Overall, this is a very nice external sound module. I was disapointed with some of the driver support under Windows 2000. It took a bit of prodding to actually get it running and tech support was not terribly helpful. It sounds good with a noise floor lower than I had expected. I wish it suppored coax SPDIF in and out, and that is my biggest complaint, really. This has got to be one of the best modules for laptops and people on the go. For a home pc or workstation, I personally prefer the Sound Blaster Live! with its digital daughter-board.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't do all it says, tech support nonexistent
Review: The Creative SoundBlaster Extigy comes with an impressive array of analog and digital inputs. Reviews and ads all claim that it can be used as an external sound card and an amp for video game consoles and DVD players. I've tried many DVDs on my Playstation 2 with the Extigy, and none of them will play through all audio channels (speakers). Perhaps there is a simple fix or workaround; I emailed their tech support months ago, but there has been no reply.
Rating:
Summary: The Extigy: A Great Innovation That Needs Work
Review: The Extigy sound card is nice to have if you don't want to pry open your computer to put in an internal card. However, I think it is to have an internal sound card. For the money your paying out for the Extigy, you could buy Creative's Audigy Pro sound card. The Extigy sound card is good because it provides convenience. Just plug it in and it is ready to use. Can use up to a 6.1 speaker system with this sound card. It can be hooked up to a game console or any exteranl device such as a microphone, portable cd player, etc. The biggest problem I have with the Extigy is that with my 5.1 speaker system,which is also by Creative,the sound keeps dropping out of the speakers. During one use, all the speakers are producing sound, the next use only the center speaker is putting out sound. The next use no speaker is putting out sound. Other than this particular problem the Extigy and the software that comes with it is great. I like the concept of an external sound card, but Creative needs to work on that one small problem of the sound dropping out.
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